Secured delivery container

ABSTRACT

A secure delivery container can have a body with a chamber that can receive one or more items for delivery to an end recipient and a door actuatable to close the chamber in a locked position and open to allow access to the items. The container can have a heat transfer system with one or more heat transfer elements in thermal communication with one or more surfaces of the body that define the chamber and configured to heat or cool the one or more surfaces to heat or cool the delivery items in the chamber. The container can wirelessly communicate with a remote electronic device to receive information from the remote electronic device and to communicate operational information from the one or more heat transfer elements to the remote electronic device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to U.S. application Ser. No. 14/712,313,filed May 14, 2015, the entire contents of all of which are herebyincorporated by reference and should be considered a part of thisspecification.

BACKGROUND Field

The present invention is directed to a secured delivery container, andmore particularly to a secured delivery container with actuatableheating and/or cooling chambers.

Description of the Related Art

Consumers use delivery services for the delivery of all types of goods.Food delivery (e.g., of groceries, pizza, etc.) and of documents (e.g.,legal documents) is commonly used. With respect to food deliverycontainers, these are often just passive insulated containers (e.g.,pizza bags) to try to keep the food cool or warm during transit, butthat do not prevent the food from losing its temperature; if thedelivery time is long (e.g., due to traffic or distance), the food oncedelivered is likely to be closer to room temperature rather than in acooled or heated state (as desired). Additionally, whether food ordocuments, the delivery containers are generally not secured, so thatthe end recipient of the goods has no way of knowing if the items havebeen tampered with (e.g., if the food has been tampered with, if thedocuments have been viewed or tampered with).

SUMMARY

Accordingly, there is a need for an improved delivery container operableto actively maintain food carried in the delivery container in a cooledor heated state, as desired, or to not actively heat or cool where thedelivery contents are not foodstuff. Additionally, there is a need foran improved delivery container that can be locked once closed, and wherethe end recipient of the goods is the only one allowed to open thedelivery container.

In accordance with one aspect, a secure delivery container is provided.The container comprises a body having a chamber configured to receiveone or more items for delivery to an end recipient. A door is actuatableto close the chamber to lock the delivery items in the chamber, andactuatable to allow access to the delivery items in the chamber. Thecontainer also comprises a heat transfer system. The heat transfersystem comprises one or more heat transfer elements in thermalcommunication with one or more surfaces of the body that define thechamber and configured to heat or cool said one or more surfaces to heator cool the delivery items in the chamber. The heat transfer system alsocomprises control circuitry configured to control the operation of theone or more heat transfer elements. A transceiver is configured towirelessly communicate with a remote electronic device, the transceiverconfigured to receive information from the remote electronic device andcommunicate said information to the control circuitry, the transceiverconfigured to communicate operational information from the one or moreheat transfer elements, or control circuitry to the remote electronicdevice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a schematic front view of one embodiment of a deliverycontainer in the open state.

FIG. 1B is a schematic front view of the delivery container of FIG. 1Ain the closed state.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of one embodiment of features of the deliverycontainer.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic block diagram showing communication between anelectronic module in one embodiment of a delivery container and a remoteelectronic device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1A-1B show one embodiment of a portable delivery container 100. Inone embodiment, the container 100 can be used to deliver hot cooked food(e.g., pizza) or cold foodstuff (e.g., soft drinks, beer, dessert). Inanother embodiment, the container 100 can be used to deliver uncookedfood (e.g., for cooking in the user's home once delivered). In stillanother embodiment, the container 100 can be used to deliver groceries.In still another embodiment, the container 100 can be used to delivernon-foodstuff contents, such as documents (e.g., legal documents).

The delivery container 100 can have a door or cover 10 and a body 20with a chamber 30 that is sealingly closed by the door or cover 10. Thechamber 30 can have one or more subchambers defined by one or more walls40. In the illustrated embodiment, the chamber 30 can have twosubchambers 32, 34 defined by a wall 40 that divides the chamber 30 intothe two chambers 32, 34. One of skill in the art will recognize that thechamber 30 can be subdivided into more than 2 subchambers, or that thechamber 30 can be a single chamber (i.e., not have a wall thatsubdivides the chamber). The delivery container 100 is preferablyportable and easily carried by the delivery personnel, as well as sizedto fit in an automobile trunk or passenger seat.

In one embodiment, the wall 40 can be movable to adjust the position ofthe wall 40 within the chamber 30, thereby adjusting the respectivesizes of the subchambers 32, 34 (e.g., adjust the size of the heated andcooled chambers, as described below). In one embodiment, the wall 40 canbe disposed on one or more tracks 42 that allow the wall 40 to move(e.g. slide) within the chamber 30.

In one embodiment, one or more walls 40 can subdivide the chamber 30into one or more subchambers that can be selectively heated or cooled.For example, in the illustrated embodiment where the chamber 30 issubdivided into two subchambers 32, 34, one of the subchambers 32 can beselectively heated (e.g., to a desired temperature) and the other of thesubchambers 34 can be cooled (e.g., to a desired temperature). Inanother embodiment, each of the two subchambers 32, 34 can beselectively heated, for example to the same temperature or to differenttemperatures, or each of the two subchambers 32, 34 can be selectivelycooled, for example to the same temperature or to differenttemperatures. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the delivery container100 only provides heating, and in other embodiments the deliverycontainer 100 only provides cooling. In still another embodiment, theone or more subchambers 32, 34 cannot be heated or cooled (e.g., whendelivering documents).

In one embodiment, the delivery container 100 can optionally have one ormore heat transfer elements 50, which can include one or more heatingelements 52 and one or more cooling elements 54. In one embodiment, theone or more heating elements 52 and cooling elements 54 can be the partof the same device (e.g., a thermoelectric heater, a Peltier element).In one embodiment, the one or more heating elements 52 can be an activeheater (e.g., a resistive heater, a coil heater) or a passive heater(e.g., phase change material that's been previously heated to transferheat to the food contents in the heated subchamber) and the one or morecooling elements 54 can be an active cooling element (e.g., arefrigeration cycle, a fan), or a passive cooling element (e.g., a phasechange material that is in a solid state and can draw heat from the foodcontents in the cooled subchamber). In one embodiment, the one or moreheat transfer elements 50 can be housed in the one or more walls 40 ofthe container 100 (e.g., a heating element adjacent one face of the wall40 and a cooling element adjacent the opposite face of the wall 40). Inanother embodiment, the one or more heat transfer elements 50 can be inthermal communication with one or more surfaces of the container 100that define the chamber 30.

With reference to FIG. 2 , in addition to the one or more heat transferelements 50, the delivery container 100 can optionally have one or moreantennas 56, optionally have one or more power storage elements 58(e.g., batteries), optionally have a GPS module 60, optionally have anear field communication module 62, optionally have a Bluetooth module64, optionally have a modem 66, optionally have a car charging module68, and optionally have one or more sensors 70. The one or more sensors70 can sense at least one parameter in the chamber 30 (e.g.,temperature, humidity, chemicals, etc.). In one embodiment, controlcircuitry 72 can operate the one or more heat transfer elements 50 basedat least in part on sensed information communicated to the controlcircuitry 72 by the one or more sensors 70.

In one embodiment, the electronics (e.g., control circuitry 72, GPSmodule 60, Bluetooth module 64, etc.) or electronic module of thedelivery container 100 can be powered by the one or more power storageelements 58, which can be recharged using, for example, the car chargingmodule 68 using the car charger connector. In another embodiment, theone or more power storage elements 58 can be excluded from the deliverycontainer 100 and the electronics powered directly by connecting withthe car charging connector.

In one embodiment, the delivery container 100 can be paired with acustomer identification number. The door 10 to the container 100 can beopened via an action by the end recipient or customer, for example viathe near field communication module 62 (e.g., activate the opening ofthe door 10 by entering a code via a smartphone or tablet computer). Inone embodiment, a mobile app (e.g., Apple Pay app) on a smartphone ortablet computer can be used to activate the opening of the door 10. Theend recipient could also pay for the delivery at the same time asopening the delivery container 100 (e.g., using the same action to openthe container 100 and pay for the delivery). Advantageously, by allowingonly the end recipient to unlock and open the container 100, they areassured that the contents (e.g., foodstuff, documents) have not beentampered with.

The GPS module 60 can optionally be used to track the travel route orposition of the delivery container 100. In one embodiment, GPSinformation can be communicated wirelessly to the end recipient, forexample via the one or more antennas 56 of the container 100.

In one embodiment, drivers of services such as Uber or Lyft, or ofdelivery or courier services, could have at least one of the deliverycontainers 100 in their automobile to deliver food (e.g., pizza),groceries or non-foodstuff materials (e.g., documents, packages) to anend recipient.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a communication system for the devicesdescribed herein (e.g., the container 100). In the illustratedembodiment, the electronic module EM (such as the electronic moduledisclosed herein for the container 100) can receive sensed informationfrom one or more sensors S 1-Sn (e.g., temperature sensors, humiditysensors, battery charge sensors, tilt sensors or gyroscopes). Theelectronic module EM can also receive information from and transmitinformation (e.g., instructions) to one or more heating or coolingelements HC (e.g., to operate each of the heating or cooling elements ina heating mode, in a cooling mode, turn off, turn on, vary power outputof, etc.) and optionally to one or more power storage devices PS (e.g.,batteries, such as to charge the batteries or manage the power providedby the batteries to the one or more heating or cooling elements). Theelectronic module EM can also communicate with a wireless powertransmitter WPT (e.g., an inductive power transmitter). The electronicmodule EM can also communicate with (e.g., transmit information to andreceive information, such as user instructions, from) a user interfaceUI1 on the unit (e.g., on the body of the container 100). The electronicmodule EM can also communicate with an electronic device UI2 (e.g., amobile electronic device such as a mobile phone, PDA, tablet computer,laptop computer, electronic watch; or a desktop computer) via the cloudCL or via a wireless communication system such as Bluetooth BT. Theelectronic device UI2 can have a user interface that can displayinformation associated with the operation of the container 100 (asdisclosed herein).

While certain embodiments of the inventions have been described, theseembodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are notintended to limit the scope of the disclosure. Indeed, the novel methodsand systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of otherforms. For example, though the features disclosed herein are describedfor delivery containers, the features are applicable to containers thatare not delivery containers (e.g., lunch boxes, camping food storagechests, refrigeration devices, cold boxes, coolers, portable coolers, orportable refrigerators, or hot boxes, or warmer drawers, or heatchambers) and the invention is understood to extend to such othercontainers. Furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes inthe systems and methods described herein may be made without departingfrom the spirit of the disclosure. The accompanying claims and theirequivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as wouldfall within the scope and spirit of the disclosure. Accordingly, thescope of the present inventions is defined only by reference to theappended claims.

Features, materials, characteristics, or groups described in conjunctionwith a particular aspect, embodiment, or example are to be understood tobe applicable to any other aspect, embodiment or example described inthis section or elsewhere in this specification unless incompatibletherewith. All of the features disclosed in this specification(including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or allof the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined inany combination, except combinations where at least some of suchfeatures and/or steps are mutually exclusive. The protection is notrestricted to the details of any foregoing embodiments. The protectionextends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the featuresdisclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims,abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination,of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

Furthermore, certain features that are described in this disclosure inthe context of separate implementations can also be implemented incombination in a single implementation. Conversely, various featuresthat are described in the context of a single implementation can also beimplemented in multiple implementations separately or in any suitablesubcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above asacting in certain combinations, one or more features from a claimedcombination can, in some cases, be excised from the combination, and thecombination may be claimed as a subcombination or variation of asubcombination.

Moreover, while operations may be depicted in the drawings or describedin the specification in a particular order, such operations need not beperformed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or thatall operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. Otheroperations that are not depicted or described can be incorporated in theexample methods and processes. For example, one or more additionaloperations can be performed before, after, simultaneously, or betweenany of the described operations. Further, the operations may berearranged or reordered in other implementations. Those skilled in theart will appreciate that in some embodiments, the actual steps taken inthe processes illustrated and/or disclosed may differ from those shownin the figures. Depending on the embodiment, certain of the stepsdescribed above may be removed, others may be added. Furthermore, thefeatures and attributes of the specific embodiments disclosed above maybe combined in different ways to form additional embodiments, all ofwhich fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Also, theseparation of various system components in the implementations describedabove should not be understood as requiring such separation in allimplementations, and it should be understood that the describedcomponents and systems can generally be integrated together in a singleproduct or packaged into multiple products.

For purposes of this disclosure, certain aspects, advantages, and novelfeatures are described herein. Not necessarily all such advantages maybe achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment. Thus, forexample, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure maybe embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves one advantage or agroup of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving otheradvantages as may be taught or suggested herein.

Conditional language, such as “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unlessspecifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within thecontext as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements, and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Conjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, and Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood with thecontext as used in general to convey that an item, term, etc. may beeither X, Y, or Z. Thus, such conjunctive language is not generallyintended to imply that certain embodiments require the presence of atleast one of X, at least one of Y, and at least one of Z.

Language of degree used herein, such as the terms “approximately,”“about,” “generally,” and “substantially” as used herein represent avalue, amount, or characteristic close to the stated value, amount, orcharacteristic that still performs a desired function or achieves adesired result. For example, the terms “approximately”, “about”,“generally,” and “substantially” may refer to an amount that is withinless than 10% of, within less than 5% of, within less than 1% of, withinless than 0.1% of, and within less than 0.01% of the stated amount. Asanother example, in certain embodiments, the terms “generally parallel”and “substantially parallel” refer to a value, amount, or characteristicthat departs from exactly parallel by less than or equal to 15 degrees,10 degrees, 5 degrees, 3 degrees, 1 degree, or 0.1 degree.

The scope of the present disclosure is not intended to be limited by thespecific disclosures of preferred embodiments in this section orelsewhere in this specification, and may be defined by claims aspresented in this section or elsewhere in this specification or aspresented in the future. The language of the claims is to be interpretedbroadly based on the language employed in the claims and not limited tothe examples described in the present specification or during theprosecution of the application, which examples are to be construed asnon-exclusive.

The term “electronic module” is meant to refer to electronics generally.Furthermore, the term “electronic module” should not be interpreted torequire that the electronics be all in one physical location orconnected to one single printed circuit board (PCB). One of skill in theart will recognize that the electronic module or electronics disclosedherein can be in one or more (e.g., plurality) of separate parts(coupled to one or a plurality of PCBs) and/or located in differentphysical locations of the body of the container, as disclosed herein.That is, the electronic module or electronics can have different formfactors.

Of course, the foregoing description is that of certain features,aspects and advantages of the present invention, to which variouschanges and modifications can be made without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. Moreover, the heated or cooleddrinkware need not feature all of the objects, advantages, features andaspects discussed above. Thus, for example, those of skill in the artwill recognize that the invention can be embodied or carried out in amanner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or a group of advantagesas taught herein without necessarily achieving other objects oradvantages as may be taught or suggested herein. In addition, while anumber of variations of the invention have been shown and described indetail, other modifications and methods of use, which are within thescope of this invention, will be readily apparent to those of skill inthe art based upon this disclosure. It is contemplated that variouscombinations or subcombinations of these specific features and aspectsof embodiments may be made and still fall within the scope of theinvention. Accordingly, it should be understood that various featuresand aspects of the disclosed embodiments can be combined with orsubstituted for one another in order to form varying modes of thediscussed containers.

What is claimed is:
 1. A secure delivery container, comprising: a bodysized to fit in an automobile trunk or passenger seat and having achamber configured to receive one or more items for delivery to an endrecipient; a door or cover operable to open or close the chamber; a heattransfer system comprising one or more heat transfer elements having asurface in thermal communication with one or more surfaces of the bodythat define the chamber and configured to heat or cool said one or moresurfaces to heat or cool the delivery items in the chamber, andcircuitry configured to control the operation of the one or more heattransfer elements to heat or cool the delivery items during transit ofthe container; a transceiver configured to wirelessly receiveinformation and communicate said information to the circuitry, thetransceiver configured to wirelessly transmit operational informationfrom the one or more heat transfer elements or circuitry; and one ormore partition walls configured to partition the chamber into aplurality of separate thermally isolated subchambers, at least one ofthe subchambers being in thermal communication with at least one of theone or more heat transfer elements, the one or more partition wallsbeing movable within the chamber between opposite walls of the chamberwithout being removed from the chamber to adjust the respective sizes ofthe plurality of separate thermally isolated subchambers.
 2. Thedelivery container of claim 1, further comprising one or more batteriesconfigured to deliver power to one or both of the circuitry and one ormore heat transfer elements.
 3. The delivery container of claim 1,wherein at least one of the one or more heat transfer elements isdisposed in the one or more partition walls.
 4. The delivery containerof claim 1, wherein the one or more heat transfer elements are one ormore heating elements.
 5. The delivery container of claim 1, furthercomprising a GPS sensor configured to track the location of thecontainer.
 6. The delivery container of claim 1, wherein the door orcover is configured to lock to close the chamber once the delivery itemsare placed in the chamber, and wherein the door or cover is configuredto be unlocked by the end recipient at the point of delivery.
 7. Thedelivery container of claim 6, wherein the door or cover is configuredto receive a signal wirelessly from a mobile electronic device to unlockthe door or cover and allow access to the delivery items.
 8. Thedelivery container of claim 1, further comprising an electricalconnector configured to allow power delivery to the container from anautomobile power connector.
 9. The delivery container of claim 1,wherein one of the subchambers is configured to be heated by at leastone of the one or more heat transfer elements and another of thesubchambers is configured to be cooled by at least one of the one ormore heat transfer elements.
 10. The delivery container of claim 9,wherein the subchamber that is heated is configured to receive heatedfoodstuff and the subchamber that is cooled is configured to receivecooled foodstuff.
 11. The delivery container of claim 1, furthercomprising one or more sensors configured to sense a parameter in thechamber and to communicate the sensed information to the circuitry, thecircuitry configured to control the operation of the one or more heattransfer elements based at least in part on the sensed information. 12.The delivery container of claim 11, wherein the one or more sensors arechosen from a group consisting of a temperature sensor, a humiditysensor, and a chemical sensor.